I am excited to bring back our NEXT UP interview column with this month’s feature on a woman who excels in many roles and has inspired thousands of people worldwide and continues to do so daily. If you are familiar with the HBO Max reality tv series Sweet Life: Los Angeles, then you are probably familiar with the face and the name, Candiss. As proven with most reality television series, you don’t always get the full picture behind the individuals that you see on screen. It is especially hard when that individual is simply making a cameo appearance and is not the focal point behind any of the storylines that are unveiled on-screen. Luckily, here at True Urban Culture, we are aware that there is more to someone that lies beneath the surface. I began to do a little research on the turn-up queen who was rocking the blue curly fro in Cabo and was blown away by what I uncovered. Prior to committing to this interview, this month’s NEXT UP feature, Candiss Hart, and I had a brief conversation in which we discussed everything that we are passionate about and the importance of educating black men and women from all walks of life of the importance of Financial Literacy. The gems that she dropped on me during our discussion were so powerful that I didn’t feel comfortable with just keeping all of the knowledge that she shared with me to myself. Luckily, Candiss agreed with my sentiments and obliged to my interview request. I am firmly certain that you, our True Urban Culture audience, will get just as much value out of her story and what led her down her current life and career trajectory as I did.
Ladale: So, Candiss, I always like to start my interviews by asking my guests. If you could describe yourself in three words, what would it be?
Candiss: Hmm, that’s a great question. Um, number one would be faithful. Number two would be resilient, and number three would be fierce.
Ladale: Fierce. Okay. So let’s circle back there. You said faithful. Why faithful?
Candiss: Faithful. Because to the core, I am truly led. I live my life under the law of the Bible and God. Um, of course, I’m not perfect. None of us are, but I am very intentional about checking in with him before I make any decisions, you know, and any time that I forget to do that, or I get caught up in the flesh, I almost always regret it. So I, I say faithful because I live my life that way. And also I am, I’m very faithful when it comes to just my relationships with people on earth, too. Um, very loyal and just making sure to keep the family first.
Ladale: And in regards to your faith now, Was that something that was like trickled down from your family or was that something that you just discovered on your own. Cause I know that everybody has their own path towards the most high. So did you grow up in a traditional family or did you discover God later in life?
Candiss: Well, I grew up in a two-parent household. My grandmother is literally a pastor, so I was in Sunday school since I can remember. Um, so she actually held, she hosted church at her home, but she also, was like a traveling pastor. She was on the board of so many churches and she would be like the guest pastor at different ones on different Sundays. So we were always just getting that exposure of, um, I guess the religious side of faith and what it looks like to really be a Christian from a very early stage. I learned how to pray at a very early point in my life when I was flustered. My mom would stop me in the hallway and be like, take a deep breath and let’s pray, you know, instead of just having any other outlet, like, I feel like, uh, some other people will coming up. It was just a part of my habit at a very early age.
Ladale: Prayer is truly an underrated asset. So, talk to me about your resiliency?
Candiss: Um, I’ve been through a lot. I’ve truly been through a lot and although I’m only 26, I’m still a baby in, I guess the grand scope of things, but I have been through so much.
Ladale: I believe the last word you used there was fierce. What makes you fierce Candiss?
Candiss: I’m just very unapologetic about my style and just what I stand for. I, I’m also known to be like a wild card if you were to ask, I guess some of my friends and things like that. And I equate that to me just being fierce because unapologetically, if I do not agree with something that’s going on, I’m not gonna partake in it or I may not do it or I may not be on the same page as y’all and it’s gonna be very clear and I am not sorry about it. You know? Um, I stand for what I believe in because I believe if you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.
There’s just like a fierceness within that. You know, you have to be willing to go against the grain to get what you deserve and it may not be aligned with where your environment is or what most of your peers are also doing or thinking and that’s okay, but you just gotta be fierce about it and relentless with it.
Ladale: I agree. Now you mentioned at the top that you’re style. Are you referring to fashion?, cause honestly, you also have a clothing line as well, which we’re gonna talk about later on during this interview, but what do you mean when you talk about your style? Like is it more so clothing or is it your overall being as a person?
Candiss: I’d say both. I think that, well, I know that everything is connected, you know. Like when you look at someone’s business, for example, it’s usually a reflection of that person’s personality or who that person is. Um, so that’s just me. My style is very free spirited. Um, very upscale, very luxury, very elevated. They can tell me “come chill Candiss, you don’t have to get dressed up”. And I might come in a trench coat and some fur, you know, cause respectfully that’s just how I’m feeling and that’s how I express myself. Um, so yeah, I would say it’s a little bit of both.
Ladale: For those who are not familiar with you, where are you from?
Candiss: So I’m from Los Angeles, California, specifically south central LA. I grew up in Baldwin Hills. So if anybody’s familiar with LA, I grew up in “the dons”.
Ladale: Now also upon doing research, I see that you went to UCLA. So you are part of the class at 2017. I remember when I checked out your profile, you said that the class of 2017 was like, “the livest class”. What made it so live?
Candiss: Oh my goodness! We just understood the assignment. You know, we brought that balance. Um, so many of us were radicals, you know? So I remember, oh my goodness, the chair of our Afro grad, like now she’s a rapper. She ended up graduating from UCLA and going to get her masters in education. And she had this epiphany through that process that she wanted to go into the arts and entertainment. And so now she is a full-blown rapper. Um, like just to give an example of how radical we are. Like we, we pushed every limit that anybody tried to put on us, um, whether it was administration for the actual school, you know, or, um, just like societal conditions and norms that people try to, you know, box you in, because you’re this black kid that goes to UCLA, but it’s like, I’m so much more than that, you know? So you guys are gonna feel and encompass all of me. And I’m not allowing you to box me in. And it was just very apparent in everything that we did.
Ladale: I saw that you studied African American studies as well as pre-law. But I remember when we had our first conversation, you mentioned to me how you basically switched career paths because you saw how the people that served as your mentors were constantly stressed out and you didn’t want that for yourself. So, explain to me your pivot from pre-law towards what you’re doing right now? You’re now a boss chick and you wear many hats. So what made you decide that you know what, I don’t want this career path for myself, even though in the field of law, you can make a really good living, but you basically decided, nah, I don’t want that for me. So why did you make that decision to basically pivot and just go down the lane that you’re in right now?
Candiss: Absolutely. It was a very humbling process for me because, for a certain amount of years, I just knew that I was gonna be the bossiest lawyer in the game, you know, and the fact that black women, black people in general, but especially black women, we take up such a small percentage of representation within lawyers in California and the nation as a whole. So I was very like excited to defy those statistics and really just be more representation for the younger girls that wanna get into the justice system and things like that really. I identified that there were a lot of problems within our justice system. And I figured, well, let me get in the game and fix things from the inside out, you know, very optimistic about it. And as I got into the mix of things, for one, I realized how political, all of it was.
And I fell out of love with it because I realized that my profession was gonna be more so about fighting a battle that wasn’t mine. But the second aspect of it was the financial side. I started to have real conversations with my mentors that were very established, successful attorneys, with very different backgrounds when it comes to their sectors of law. Law is very diverse. You know, there’s entertainment and then there’s the administrative side. There are so many different ways and avenues you can work within law, but the one common thing across the board with all of them is that they were all into debt up to their necks to the point where they might have been making good money, but you couldn’t tell, you know, their lifestyles couldn’t afford it. Their families always got the short end of the stick because of the lack of time and availability that they had for them. And I’m the kind of woman where I plan to have a huge family I’m gonna have about 10 kids. And I know that sounds crazy, but I’m gonna do it. And I know that I need a lot of money, but I also need a lot of time. You know, I need a lot of wherewithal for that. And I just wasn’t willing to sacrifice all that for a goal or a mission that no longer aligned with my purpose.
Ladale: Now, speaking of purpose, because I feel like based on our previous convo. The value that you brought to me was an indication for me that this is your purpose now. Basically educating, you know, black men and black women, in regards to financial literacy, like what to do with their money, and how to invest their money. So, how did that develop as a passion for you? Is it safe to actually call that your passion?
Candiss: I think so. Overall, I think you can have several passions, you can also have several purposes, but I think that realistically, like I think we all have a purpose and then there’s like sub purposes within that. You know. So overall my purpose is impact, influence, and leadership, right? So my goal is to always leave somebody better than I found them. And that is my purpose. And I have found that in the world that we live in and the society we live in and especially with where I come from, and where I feel like we come from as a people when I’m able to provide a level of education and service to a group of people that have been literally neglected and deprived of this knowledge for not just a long time, but for generations. Like I remember when I was at UCLA, just studying the severity of the consequences for even reading a book a couple of generations ago, you know, or trying to become more financially literate, you literally could get your head cut off, you know, or just have very serious repercussions because you wanted more for yourself. And so I just have fell really deep into the ins and outs of making up for that lost time, making sure that people get this information and put it to use because it can change the trajectory of your entire family tree, if you can actually lock in and gather, grasp it and do the right things with it, you know.
Ladale: You mentioned changing the trajectory of family trees, but I see that you can stake the claim that you did just that for your very own family tree. You mentioned to me that you are the youngest amongst your siblings and yet you got your mom and dad involved with your business. How was that?
Candiss: It’s amazing! God is so good. Every everything comes full circle, like just last night, my mother, I had her speak on just the power of following up with your clientele. So she’s training over 300 different entrepreneurs that are rolling out their agencies, very similar to ours and very similar to mine, but teaching them the basics of just having clientele and making sure people don’t slip between the cracks and things like that. And just watching her, I’m just like speechless because my mom was a teacher for 35 years and I used to help her set up her classroom in the summertime.
Ladale: No wonder you’re so good at presentations
Candiss: I guess I got a little teacher in me. Yes.
You know? Um, but she [Candiss mom] wasn’t making good money, not, not to the level she deserved to make. She was making six figures. Sure, but we gotta raise the bar. You know, I’m looking at my mom, and I know the sacrifices she’s made over the years for those students. And I also saw how, when she needed to take time off for this or that, how the school district wasn’t remembering how much sacrifice she made. You know, it was very black and white with their rules and things like that. And I just knew that she deserved better. So I introduced this to her very early in the game. I said, mom, I don’t know everything yet, but I need you to start to get in the mix. We’re gonna learn together and we’re gonna retire you early. She told me, Candiss, I can’t retire until I’m 60. And at the time she was, uhh, 57 or 56 when she went into business with me. And in nine months, she made more money than she ever had made in one full year as a teacher. Wow! And it really put things in perspective for her. She decided to retire early and now she’s just living her life.
Ladale: Wow! That is truly inspiring to hear how you retired your mom within a year of getting her involved in your business. For those who will come across this interview, do you care to explain in regards to how you go about impacting all of these lives? We are already in agreement that the best investment that a person can make is in people.
Candiss: Yes, yes. So I agree. The best investment is in people. And that’s a lot for me to say, because I literally teach how to invest in money, but I’d say, um, the return that you can get on doing so is great. But the return that you get from investing in people is endless because now they can continue to pour into your cup, into their cup, and into others’ cups. So what I’ve learned is as a true business owner, you have to invest in people because that’s for one, that’s the only way that you will free up time for yourself, but also for them. So to be specific, I am in the kind of business where I own an agency. I own several agencies actually, um, franchisee-based. So I guess you can think about McDonald’s but bring it down to a financial level or bring it up to a financial level where I have agencies all over the world where there are licensed agents in different states, different countries even, and they’re educating people on how money works.
They’re also servicing them because they’re licensed professionals and they can actually qualify different clients for different investments, and different accounts to get them to their financial goals. My job is to help them understand the system of our business so that they understand how to adequately get licensed so that they have credentials from their state or wherever they’re operating and doing business out of and understand how money works and are around this information as often as they need to be. So they’re getting up-to-date information for themselves and their families as well as their personal finances, but also for their clientele, putting the right information out there.
Ladale: Also in regards to investing in people, I’m sure you are as well aware as I am that there are just some folks who may not be worth the effort of investing into. So what do you look for in a potential agent? Like what qualities must that person possess?
Candiss: Yeah. Um, honestly, you don’t need to have a degree. You don’t even have to have gone to college at all. Not even high school, if that’s the situation. I’m at the point in my life, when I have kids, I don’t even know if I’m gonna make college a requirement in my household. Just because of where the world is right now, but that’s a whole other topic. We’ll come back to that. Um, but I’m just looking for someone that’s hungry, someone that is ambitious, and someone that is driven. And one thing that really stands out for me is just being the person that is willing to make the investment and I’m actually looking to add value to people. I’m also looking for someone that’s dissatisfied. So they look at their life and they realize I want more. So it’s not necessarily a negative thing, but it’s more so like you are woke enough to realize that you need more, you know, whether it’s additional income, you realize your salary just ain’t cutting it for the lifestyle you wanna have or your investment goals. Or maybe you want more time for your family. You know, wherever that need is. That’s where I come into the picture and provide that value.
Ladale: Now, with you being a UCLA grad and what you’re doing, you all these different companies all over across the across this country and across the world, did you ever have the opportunity to go back to UCLA to provide this value? Because they’re not really teaching this in the classroom. Like did UCLA ever reach out to you? Like, Hey, we’ll love to have you on campus to speak to the students? What’s the relationship there?
Candiss: Yes. So, um, I agree. I’ve noticed this and identified this not too long ago. So God works in mysterious ways. Not too long ago, I happened to be at a pool party and I ran into an old friend of mine. She’s actually in her master’s program at UCLA right now. And so we were catching up, just hanging out. She tells me she’s going to UCLA. And of course, I’m like, oh my gosh, I’m so excited about that. And so I ask her what she’s studying. She tells me she’s in the school of education. So I’m like, oh my gosh, my minor, one of my minors is in that same department. What’s your specific concentration. And she tells me it’s actually financial literacy, trying to find ways to get some of the same topics I teach in the actual school system.
So that, that conversation is starting, you know, it’s being had because you know, we need it in the school system and it’s just not there. Right. So immediately the light bulb goes off in my head. I’m like, we need to have a meeting together. We need to talk and just do more together. So, we actually do have a game plan for me to come on campus and start with just a workshop or a seminar if you will. So that I can just get the information to the right audience in the right room. And then strategically invite some people from the admin of different departments and things like that, so that they can understand that I’m a resource. I’m definitely alumni and we can just go from there. But we’re specifically gonna be starting with the black student and then we’ll see where that takes us.
Ladale: I like that you mentioned that a person has multiple purposes, like sub purposes and sub passions. That reminds me of a quote that I saw from you. I did my research. You said the same way we need oxygen to breathe me dance to live. Now does that quote still hold value to this day? And does that also, can I remember you told me that you was also a cheerleader as well, you played softball. So like what are your other interests outside of, you know, provide value to like black, black families in regards to like financial literacy?
Candiss: Yeah. So I grew up as an athlete. I have an older brother, we’re five years apart. And so I was with him the majority of the time, all of his best friends and bros, they’re all my big bros, all of them. So, I kind of have a tomboy spirit to me a little bit, you know, like I can get down and dirty, but I like to keep it cute at the same time. So I’d say, you know, staying active is huge for me. A lot of people don’t realize how good it is to just move your body for a lot of self-esteem and confidence reasons of course, health as well. But at a very early age, that was normal for me. I was at my brother’s flag football games and then eventually I was playing flag football. Then I realized I was the only girl out there.
So, I decided to cheer. I went into track, and then softball. I just always stayed active. Um, so that was when I was younger, out playing sports after high school, though, and devoted most of my time to school business. I was thinking about the money from a very early age. But, I’m also very social. So I like to travel and I love to dance. You see me at any social event and I’m the number one person on the dance floor. I also like to rock climb. I like to swim. I love to cook and eat. I’m a foodie.
Ladale: What type of recipes do you like to cook?
Candiss: Creo. Usually everything is pretty much Creo Southern style.
Ladale: Now, also outside of that, you also have multiple businesses, one of them being your clothing brand, CREE. How did that come about and what is the siginifance behind the name?
Candiss: That’s an excellent question. So Ladale, believe it or not. When I graduated from UCLA, I was pre-law. Everybody was waiting for me to give these law school a decision and then commit to a law school. And then I pop out the woodworks, like, all right, I’m not going to law school anymore. I don’t know what I’m doing, but I’m gonna be a business owner. And so, in the in between, I’m an adult, I need income. So, I actually went into the school district and started to teach a little bit myself, but I was also just trying to develop and really define or fine tune more of who I was. So, my passions and my purpose, knew that they consisted of being impactful. I knew it was leadership and I knew that I was an entrepreneur, but it wasn’t as clear for me at that time.
I was 21 trying to figure things out. And so, I started to act and I started to model. And so I’m posting these things on my Instagram and I was getting a lot of flack. I’ll be honest. People are telling me Candiss, what’s up? Why aren’t you going to law school? You know, why are you posting these kinds of things? And I was immediately triggered because I realized how much people wanted to keep me in this box based on their perceptions, you know? And then, so I realized I’m like, I’m a lioness, I got the heart of a lion and I could care less what you’re saying about what I should do. I’m gonna do what I think is best for me. You know? Like I’m praying, I’m talking to God, and I’m following his lead, but in no way, shape or form, are you calling the shots for my life? You know? So I have my tattoos and on the line it actually says “heart of the lion. I actually have it on my screensaver as well. You see how it’s a lion and it’s a heart around it? And then it says Cree right under it. So I came up with this idea around 2017. I was 21 years old at the time. And I realized that I wanted to put on a program for young girls that may be experiencing the same things. You know, maybe it’s their friends, maybe it’s their teachers, or maybe it’s their parents that are telling them, you need to do this. You can’t act because you’re gonna be an accountant, you know, or you can’t play sports because you gotta babysit your little sisters. And I just thought about the younger girls that aren’t as strong-headed as I am, you know, that don’t have the guts or the confidence to tell people to chill out and do what they wanna do, you know? And so, I wanted to create programs and after school care, you know, just scenarios where we had practices where they could find their voice and the idea was for them to find their inner CREE, you know, because CREE is like my alter ego, if you will.
And I wanted everybody to be able to find that within themselves, um, long story short, I was 21 and it was a nonprofit idea at the time and I needed to be for profit. So I was just more specific with my networking connections for finance and business, which is how, you know, I, I really became a broker so early too. And I kind of had to put CREE on pause, but then I turned 24 and we go into COVID and the world shuts down. So I’m used to going to my client’s houses, sitting at their kitchen tables on their couches, connecting with them, talking money with them and like providing whatever’s needed for that household. And, um, I realized once COVID hit, everything was on zoom. So, now I’m meeting with my clients on zoom.
I’m not going to their houses anymore, but I still was having to get dressed and it just didn’t make sense to me. I’m like, okay, they can’t see what I have on really below on my shoulders. Why am I getting dressed? And I’m sitting on my couch or I’m doing a zoom from my bed. Like, it just didn’t make sense to me. So, then I was like, you know, I had a silk, um, a silk satin like gown that my mom gave to me when I was really young and I had it on and I looked in the zoom mirror. I was like, I look good. I’m gonna keep this on all day. And in the middle of the day, I was like, you know what? This should be normal. Like we should be able to wear comfortable pajamas that are cute and feel good and that are also fashionable.
And I was like, but nobody’s doing that. Like, there’s not a clothing line out there like that. And then I was like, you know what, I’m gonna do it. And then I was like, you know what, CREE, I just put a couple things together. And so I immediately got on the phone with my homegirl. She’s a sketch artist. She went to Crenshaw with me too. And, um, I just told her my ideas and she loved it. She immediately started sketching out just based on what I was telling her. And she sent me some things and we worked on the inspiration and just the sketches for like literally a year. And from that point I was like, okay, I’m doing this. And I started to hire a graphic designer for my logo and, you know, get the paperwork in order, start raising the capital. And, um, about two years after that, I launched CREE. And, so now the world is getting a glimpse of just all of it.
Ladale: What are your long-term goals for CREE?
Candiss: So, I still do see CREE having programs for the younger generation of women and men too. But, I do wanna start with the woman I’d say. And I want the actual garments to be in big department stores like Nordstrom and SaksFifth Avenue. I also want it to be on Melrose. I haven’t committed to having a storefront myself because I don’t believe in being self-employed. I believe in being a business owner with systems in place so that income is passive and I still have freedom over my time. I’m huge on that. So that’s more so where I see as far as the reach and branching out on the clothing side of it, then I also do see it being more of an umbrella. So the nonprofit aspect, maybe being in the works too, where I am getting back to the younger generation and I am inspiring them through different programs and, you know, practices where they’re learning how to use their voice in the toughest situations, and how to still rise above, speak up and stand firm on what you believe in potentially by wearing CREE too.
Ladale: I love your mission statement. Now, you also mentioned acting, for those that may be unfamiliar with your name and all your business endeavors, you had a two episode cameo appearance on the HBO Max reality series Sweet Life: Los Angeles. Now, what was that experience like? And how do you feel about in regards to how you would portray, do you feel like it was fair?
Candiss: Of course, of course. So I’ll be honest with you, seeing myself on the big screen and not in the best light was very hard for me. Because, as you’ve learned on a personal level, the way I was depicted on that screen and on that show is not really who I am. It didn’t give a full scope of who Candiss is at all, not even close. And so, I have learned that that’s just the parts of reality TV. It is unfortunate because, I wasn’t contracted or, you know, on an official cast for what you guys saw in season one. I was literally just there, supporting one of my best friend’s, Tylynn, on her birthday trip. And I knew that they’d be there filming, but I didn’t know that it would be that kind of Chacha, if that makes sense. You know, um, because in my line of work, I’m busy, you know, I’m handling people’s finances, their families, and there is a lot of responsibility with that.
So, I say that because when I travel, I travel. I’m going out of town, and I’m having a good time, that’s my opportunity to decompress and just let looses and scratch that itch if you will. And that’s pretty much what I was doing. And it just, it sucks that I was the one that was created to be the villain or, you know, the most lit I guess. I don’t know. I didn’t like the way that they depicted me, but to be honest with you, God works in mysterious ways because although that was pretty hard for me, I realized it for one, I had things I needed to work on because, as much as I can point the finger and say, I didn’t know enough information and they shouldn’t have got me like that. And I wasn’t a part of the cast and I shouldn’t have been depicted in that light or whatever at the same time, I gave them what they shot, you know? So I should have had more self control. You know, I shouldn’t have been going as hard knowing that there was cameras around and knowing that I didn’t have as much information as I would’ve liked. So that was a little irresponsible on my end. I will take accountability for that. But, you know, God works in mysterious ways.
Ladale: I want to look ahead to the future. Where will Candiss Hart be 5 years from now?
Candiss: Uhh, five years from now… So, you know, I operate on God’s time, you know, but I also believe that planning to fail or failing to plan, is preparing to fail. You know? So, I do want to be married. I will say that because I’m 26. I actually turn 27 this year and I, I know that I want to start having babies right around my 30 year old age. But I’m a stickler on marriage first.
Ladale: Ok, so no babies until marriage?
Candiss: Exactly. That’s like a hard one for me. So, I am in love. I’m in a very serious relationship with Keilan. You should have seen him on the show as well. And we’re in business together too. In my finance business, we’re both brokers. We both operate under the same umbrella and we move as a unit . Like we’re a team, he’s my partner in life. And so, marriage is on the map. We just don’t know when. It’s actually a conversation that’s been coming up a lot lately in our relationship. So, we’ll see. But I do know in five years I want to be married and I wanna be at least on baby number one at least.
Ladale: I remember you asked me when we had our first chat, what do “I want my legacy to be?” I propose the same question back to you. When it’s all said and done, what do you want Candiss Hart’s legacy to be?
Candiss: That’s an amazing question. A lot of people don’t know this, but one of the perks I would say to being in the financial realm and industry that I’m in is the residual income. So these residual incomes will pay me when I’m retired and older. But more importantly, they will pay my next generation. And so, I see my kids turning 18, as soon as they’re legally able to, getting licensed so that they can acquire those residuals and continue to build off of what mom and dad have built for them. You know, they’ll be learning algebra and investments in real life at the same time, you know? As soon as they’re born, things will be getting started for them as far as investments. So generational wealth is at the top of my priority list. I see Cree being a company very, very similar to Fendi believe it or not.
Fendi is one of the number one companies that has inspired me as far as what I want the world to see when they initially look at my logo. But the brand will develop and I know it’ll change a little bit over time, just naturally, but I see it being a brand that lives on for generations, generations, and generations. And it’s just uplifting people in different ways. I also see myself owning a school one day, where I actually am able to determine the curriculum in ways that will very intentionally, uplift our people. I imagine it being like… I hate to say it and I don’t wanna work backwards, but I want it to be geared towards colored people and I want it to be a private school. I want it to be, you know, very specific in regards to teaching enough about the arts at an early stage. So the developmental levels of a young child, you know, are set in stone. Things that are normal to us as adults should be normal to children younger as far as the way that they think and how their brains are working.
As for the entertainment world, I’m kind of being introduced to it outside of my degree, I’d say in theater and the little experience I have with modeling and little bit of acting prior to this reality show opportunity. I’m being introduced to the world through this reality TV realm. But I do wanna be able to build off of that. I do see myself being in bigger movies. I see myself having actual roles with characters where I’m not Candiss, but I’m whatever character matches the production or the project. You know, that’s the goal, but I appreciate how reality TV is like introducing me into that realm.
Ladale: What does True Urban Culture mean to you?
Candiss: When I hear True Urban Culture, I think of who I am to the core, who we are as a people to the core, and the unapologetic raw and realness about us. You know, things that people literally go to buy, we just are born with. And I think of royalty. And culture is what’s consistent and what’s current, you know? So I think about how that is just relevant in today’s time, but how it also was back in the day and how it will be moving forward. So just keeping it consistent and unapologetic about it as it evolves.
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All photos courtesy of Candiss Hart
